Post by Bytor on May 27, 2010 2:21:38 GMT -5
-Visuals- 8.2/10
As per my usual I almost feel this game should get...wait for it...two different scores, well, actually three. The typical scenes are rendered nicely but at best are really good PS2 graphics, not next-gen. The backgrounds are what fails here, often being bulky and while appearing 3-D can cause problems as to horizontal and vertical positioning. The character renditions themselves are a touch better done though, facial expressions are nice and individual looks are, in my opinion, nicely done. The cut-scenes, however, are what shines....85% of the time that is (some, actually most of the cut scene battle scenes are simply awesome!) the rest of the time they are adequate at best. The framerate suffers a tremendous amount as well, expect some serious "jerkiness" in even some of the smaller battles let alone some of the larger melee's that will occur, not a huge deal but most certainly a noticeable distraction. I do like the various looks given by the character's once you customize their armor, weapons etc, it adds a nice touch to the game. I do have to make fun of the "bloody look" though. I swear after ever battle you will be covered in gore, no matter how close or far you actually were from the action. Still, overall, other than the freezes and hitches in the melee battles the visuals are pretty good.
-Sound- 9.0/10
I loved the various voice overs, most especially Morrigan and Leliana, loved the accents. The various other characters were nicely done as well to give the game an overall "global feel". The music fit the mood nicely and certainly gave you a sense of foreboding when an upcoming battle was getting ready to take place.
-Gameplay- 9.1/10
Here is the true strong point/weak point to this game. basically it plays pretty much like any other Action/RPG. the battles are real time (typically) melee battles where you (as the main character) can pretty much control the action or you can use pre-set tactics defined in your allies which will allow them to act independently based on certain conditions, for instance you could set Wynne to heal any ally whose HP is <10% or have Zevran back stab any enemy whose HP is <50% or even have Morrigan use a freeze spell on any cluster of allies greater than 3 or 4 enemies. The problem with this entire system is to a certain extent the shear amount of options available is pretty much unnecessary. I had each ally set with 2-3 tactics and I finished the game with few huge problems, furthermore, although you can control each ally individually it's simply seldom necessary. I let my lead character (a casteless dwarf by the way) pretty much attack and I simply let my allies do what few tactics I had set up and the only time it influenced the game at all was in the final battle against the Archdemon. Having said that it really is a lot of fun to assign the various skills and abilities and most especially the various armors and weapons. And that is where I feel the real skill is needed, if you take the time to really make sure each ally is equipped properly the game will be sooooo much easier. I had much more fun equipping great armor and weapons than I did worrying about spells and skills. Now, here's the way it works, each type of fighter (warrior, rogue, mage, etc) has it's own skills that may be learned, it's own weapons which may be used and it's own skills to learn and master, the key is to make sure you have a wide variety, for instance it does no good to have a rogue if her/his dexterity is so low they cannot pick any locks, and it would certainly be stupid to have a warrior able to pick locks but unable to use high level attacks! I wish, to be honest there where a few less skills/spells available though, I simply feel there was too much to learn and the majority of it was not really needed if you played a smart game. The melee battle were for the most part a tad easier than need be, especially with great weapons/armors set up and I seldom needed to use the "radial system". These is how you control your allies, hit L1 to pick your ally,then hit L2 and the radial system pops up and allows you to individually control your allies, but honestly, for the most part it's seldom needed. Another aspect that was simply unused was the ability to create potions/spells/traps/bombs etc, while fun to be honest it was superfluous at best. And these issues were the failures of the game, it has unreal great options to utilize...unfortunately the game does not only not force you to master these various actions but to be honest makes them pretty much unnecessary, the battles are certainly easy enough to win without the need to utilize the harder aspects of the gameplay.
-Story- 9.9/10
Wow, certainly a great aspect of the game. In a nutshell the land is fractured into various factions, the underground Dwarves, the secluded Magi, the downtrodden Dalish and the controlling humans. The Darlspawn have erupted again and this time the factions are not only not united but the Grey Wardens (who are the Darkspawn's true protagonists are few and far between in Fedelran) and the humans have no desire to ally themselves with the other factions. It's your job to to unite them and defeat the Blight. Along the way you will discover a story that rivals any "Tolkenisque" game/history out there. Honestly, they should write a book and do a movie of this game, the story is that good!
-Overall- 9.3/10
Some will absolutely think it's the greatest Action/RPG game out there while others will be bogged down by the long load times and unreal convoluted background which evolves into the story in present time. Personally the unneeded complexity to the skill/abilities system took away from what could have been one of the greatest games out, having said that it's still a great game with unreal re-playabilty, after all, you can finish the game again as a poor/noble magi, dwarf, human, or dalish, hours and hours of unique gameplay